Monday, November 19, 2012

A victim of religious traditionalism

Would
you ever believe that in the year 2012, a miscarrying, 31 year old
woman, suffering from blood poisoning, would be refused a quick
termination of her pregnancy and would be allowed to die in a modern
hospital in one of the developed countries of the west? Well! This
is what exactly happened to a 17 weeks pregnant Indian Lady, who
herself was a dentist, in Galway, Western Ireland.

About
50 years back, films or novels produced or written in India, often
had a melodramatic scene, where a Doctor would ask the husband of a
pregnant woman in pain, whom he should save? The mother or the Child?
And remembering his true love for his dear wife, the husband would
always tell the Doctor to save the mother. Remember that in India of
those days, abortions were illegal, except for medical emergencies.
Sometime later, I had asked a Doctor friend of mine, the truth about
this common melodramatic scene from the novels or films, when he had
told me that these kind of melodramatic scenes were all figments of
imagination. Doctors would always ensure that the pregnant mother's
safety would be never compromised and no such option would be ever
given to the husband at all. I am mentioning this fact here to just
highlight the fact that even 50 years back, in an undeveloped country
like India, no sane Doctor would have allowed a 31 year old lady, to
get blood poisoned, because of miscarriage. Yet it was allowed to
happen in Ireland of 2012, because some ancient law passed in 1861
says that “it is a crime to procure a miscarriage."

Predominantly
Catholic, Ireland's constitution officially bans abortion, but a 1992
Supreme Court ruling has legalized it for situations when the
woman's life is at risk from continuing the pregnancy. Five
governments since have refused to pass a law resolving the confusion,
leaving Irish hospitals to decide on their own. Hospitals have been
most reluctant to terminate pregnancies except in the most obviously
life-threatening circumstances.

Mrs.
Savita and her husband Praveen Hallappanavar, were a normal happy
couple, full of life and were expecting their first child. They were
living in Galway since 2008. Praveen works in a company that
manufactures sophisticated medical equipment, and Savita was a
dentist.

Savita
was hospitalized for severe abdominal pain in “University Hospital”
Galway on October 21st
2012. Doctors had determined within hours of her hospitalization,
that she was miscarrying but refused over next three days, requests
from Hallappanavar couple for a termination of her fetus to combat
her own surging pain and fading health. Praveen says that, when the
consultant came on the ward rounds, Savita repeatedly asked him: “
If they could not save the baby, could they induce to end the
pregnancy?” The consultant had then said: “`As long as there is a
fetal heartbeat, we can't do anything.”

Next
day. the consultant told Savita that it was the law and this is a
Catholic country. Savita even had told him: "I am neither Irish
nor Catholic," but Doctors refused to to take any action. Savita
vomited repeatedly and collapsed in a restroom that night still
Doctors took no action to terminate the pregnancy as fetus's heart
was still beating. The fetus died the following day and its remains
were surgically removed. Within hours, Savita was placed under
sedation in intensive care with systemic blood poisoning. In another
two days her heart, kidneys and liver had stopped working and she was
pronounced dead early on Oct. 28, 2012. Praveen's world had
collapsed. Local Indian community in Ireland canceled Diwali
celebrations and is naturally feeling extremely frustrated with the
Government and laws of Ireland.

University
Hospital now declines to say anything about whether Savita's blood
poisoning could have been reversed had she received an abortion
rather than wait for the fetus to die on its own. It only says that
an investigation has been ordered along with a probe by National
Government's Health service.

I
really have no words to describe this any further, as it hits me in a
very hard way. Now, after this young man suffered a terrible loss and
a young and energetic woman is gone for ever, the opposition parties
in Ireland want the Government to enact the legislation and bring the
laws of the land in line with Supreme court order. People of Ireland
have held demonstrations and rallies. Government of Ireland has
offered all help to Praveen to reconstruct his life and Indian
foreign office has taken up the issue with the Irish Government.

There
are some very basic issues involved here, which need to be sorted
out. When the mother herself, in her full senses, is asking the
Doctor to terminate the pregnancy for reasons of medical emergency,
how can the Doctor refuse? How Catholic laws can be enforced on a non
Catholic, who was not even a citizen of Ireland. When Supreme court
of Ireland had given green signal for medical termination of
pregnancy and when mother's health was at risk, how the hospital
refused to take any actions? A medical practitioner's basic duty is
to save life of his patient. The University Hospital in Galway and
the consultant treating Savita, have obviously acted derelict in
their duty of saving the patient at all costs.

I am
sure that this all, will make you very sad and angry, just like me.